Expert Marketing Collateral Guide | January is always the time of the year when people look back to see how far they’ve come, to revise their plans for the new year, adjust their strategies and tweak their efforts for optimal results. This is even more obvious in the world of business – yet, you’d be surprised how many owners of businesses both big and small overlook the importance of printed marketing collateral for their success.

Printed marketing collateral will oftentimes be a potential client’s first contact with you and your business, which means the impression it makes is more important than many business owners realize. At the end of the day, it can be the critical difference between a loyal client for life and a lost sale. But the average consumer is buried under an avalanche of dull, uninspiring materials, so you’ll want to make sure the items you design this year stand out from the crowd if you’re hoping to boost your business. This is why we gathered some of the most important things you’ll need to keep in mind in order to make the most of your investment.

Don’t Wing It | Expert Marketing Collateral Guide

Every successful entrepreneur will tell you that the single secret of success is having a solid plan. No matter the size of your business, you’ll want to start the year with a solid plan that covers not only your business goals, but also delves into the nitty-gritty details of your marketing efforts. When you write down your business plan and clearly define your goals for the year, you’ll have a much better idea what you need to do to achieve them.

Having clear goals and well-thought-out tactics of achieving them will make it easier for you to decide which marketing collateral items you’ll need. Marketing collateral is the collection of media used to support the sales of a product or service. While this covers both digital and printed materials, such as websites, blogs, email newsletters, brochures, business and thank-you cards, and even mouse pads, we’ll focus on the printed side of the specter. Keep in mind, though, that you might not need all of the items we mentioned, which is why it’s a great idea to take a look at your marketing plan and decide exactly what items will help you achieve the most optimal results.

Reinforce Your Brand | Expert Marketing Collateral Guide

While the main goal of marketing collateral might be to support the sales, that’s far from being the only benefit it brings. When designed right, your marketing collateral can boost your brand’s exposure and raise awareness, turning your marketing efforts into a memorable and impressive visual experience your potential clients won’t be able to ignore. However, in order to achieve that effect, you’ll need to find a way to incorporate your brand elements you’re using in your other materials, such as the color scheme, fonts, and most importantly, your logo. You can also use similar graphic elements to improve memorability and even repeat your brand-oriented words and phrases.

Don’t Be Afraid Of Color | Expert Marketing Collateral Guide

Using color is one of the most effective tactics when designing pretty much anything – it can help your collateral stand out from the crowd, evoke an emotional response, and guide the attention of the reader, emphasizing the most important bits of information. However, make sure you’re using colors that work well together, and that actually match the nature of your brand. Every color has a meaning, and the last thing you need is to convey the wrong message because of a simple brush stroke.

Focus On Simplicity | Expert Marketing Collateral Guide

While designing your marketing collateral, you have to keep a few goals in mind: you need to make it interesting enough to stand out and you need to convey your unique brand identity, both of which can be challenging on their own. However, they become even trickier when you realize that your marketing collateral is a delivery mechanism for your message. There’s no point of creating even the most appealing item if its design overshadows your message. Try to avoid using unnecessary elements just to stand out, because your collateral should be appealing enough to grab the attention of a potential client and help them focus on your message, and not the distracting design. Which leads us to our next point: readability.

Readability Is Paramount | Expert Marketing Collateral Guide

Your task is to communicate a message clearly and effectively. In addition to paying special attention to the actual wording you use in your different materials, you’ll also want to make sure the fonts you’re using are easy to read. No matter how appealing a complex calligraphic font is, if it’s difficult to read, chances are, it doesn’t belong on your marketing materials. If you really need to use it, consider using it sparsely for smaller elements, such as the subheadings. For the main copy, choose simple, readable fonts in sizes above 8pts. Anything smaller may look readable on a computer screen, but will turn into an illegible smudge.

Invest In Good Paper | Expert Marketing Collateral Guide

Good design will only get you so far. Your potential clients will start forming their opinion of you and your business the moment they pick up your collateral. If you cut corners on the quality by using cheap paper, what will that say about the quality of the products and services you’re providing? You want your company to appear professional and reputable, which means that you need to have the highest quality paper and printing your budget will allow.

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MediaNovak is a creative design agency that specializes in web design, online marketing, graphic design and corporate identity solutions. We started our company with some basic ideals—offer our customers exceptional design, while delivering a positive customer experience.

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